


Together We Make a Whole

by mizuxe



Category: Borderlands (Video Games)
Genre: F/M, Handsome Jackpot, I don't know what I'm doing, Spoilers for DLC, don't even look at me right now
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-16
Updated: 2021-01-15
Packaged: 2021-03-13 16:40:21
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,639
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28781379
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mizuxe/pseuds/mizuxe
Summary: Moxxi grins immediately upon spotting her, hands cupped forward as if to capture her face as she saunters towards her.And then Gaige catches sight of the yellow monstrosity behind.And sure, she screams, a bit. There’s a scream/yell/shout of "HAA!” that draws the attention of the whole bar, it even stops the idiot in the corner who has been singing a folksong for the past 20 minutes. Off-key. Badly. Just one verse, repeatedly.Logically, Gaige knows it’s not Jack. She knows that, even as she fumbles with a pistol at her side and tries to step around Moxxi’s floundering hands.
Relationships: Gaige/Timothy Lawrence
Kudos: 3





	Together We Make a Whole

**Author's Note:**

> A.N:- Hi I was meant to write a 2,000 word essay for uni today... Instead I wrote 2,000 here and decided there's going to be more. Don't tell on me, writing is writing!
> 
> I didn't even know I was into Gaige/Timtams until 4am when I was trying to do an art and remembered Gaige is into older dudes. But think about it, THINK ABOUT IT! It works, right? Right. 
> 
> This is unbeta'd, it's not finished and I'm not sure how many chapters more it will take. Depends if people like it? Iunno, have fun babas. 
> 
> x

The first time she spots Not-Jack, is her third visit aboard Sanctuary III. Gaige is sat at Moxxi’s bar, side saddling a bar stool and ironically nodding her head about to the music. She’s watching Moze bop across the bar toward Amara, her helmet nodding back and forth with so much vigor it blocks her eyes more than once. Amara just grins, sat towards the back of the bar and away from the ‘dancefloor’ if you can call it that.    
  
Moze shoots Gaige a grin in passing, still bopping her way over to Amara, helmet still rocking back and forth. Gaige is amazed she hasn’t spilt any of her shots, precariously held by two fingers each. There’s even a little spin, the showoff. Amara is laughing, shoulders shaking, trying so hard not to that her mouth looks tight and uncomfortable. Gaige looks away, strangely nervous in the full bar of people she can only put a name to. She knows the faces; the bar is full of people that she almost knows but without the familiarity of _her_ Vault crew.    
  
She’s even relieved to see Moxxi with her made up mouth, sauntering back into her bar to rowdy shouts and cheers. She’s been gone a few weeks now, off on some revenge raid of Jack’s old haunts that Gaige has heard about in passing. Moxxi grins immediately upon spotting her, hands cupped forward as if to capture her face as she saunters towards her.    
  
And then Gaige catches sight of the yellow monstrosity behind.    
  
And sure, she screams, a bit. There’s a scream/yell/shout of "HAA!” that draws the attention of the whole bar, it even stops the idiot in the corner who has been singing a folksong for the past 20 minutes. Off-key. Badly. Just one verse, repeatedly.    
  
Logically, Gaige knows it’s not Jack. She knows that, even as she fumbles with a pistol at her side and tries to step around Moxxi’s floundering hands. For a woman who pretends to have such a killer instinct, Moxxi has such a calming ‘mom vibe’ when she wants to. Warm, calm hands settle on Gaige’s and automatically she stops her useless fumbling. She calms, she looks to the other woman and breaths out.    
  
God, she’s so stupid.    
  
“I’m so stupid,” Gaige laughs, breathless, red-faced, and oh-so-stupid. “I’m sorry, it’s not Jack, I know that,” she looks around Moxxi to the wide, guilty Not-Jack's eyes as he looks up from the floor at her. “I’m sorry Not-J- sorry dude, it’s ok now.” Not-Jack doesn’t seem fazed by her stumble, he doesn’t look convinced either to be honest. Just on edge and embarrassed. The whole bar is watching them, Not-Jack is gazing at the floor again and his neck is bright red as he pulls his jacket tighter around his frame.    
  
“Come on, sugar,” Moxxi mutters low, but tilts her head around for Not-Jack. Gaige can feel her mouth pop open in shock, can’t do anything to stop it really. She just lets them pass, gets back onto her barstool and drinks her skag-piss-tasting booze as fast as humanly possible.    
  
Slowly, the bar goes back to normal. The dude in the corner goes back to singing until Moze throws a beer can at him, with a “Zane, shut up!” She sits in peaceful mortification for a grand total of five minutes before Moxxi reappears, magicking up a fresh drink with her and those kind eyes that make her feel strangely sad.    
  
“I’m sorry, I panicked, I,” Gaige waves her hands around uselessly. “Can you let him know I’m not going to shoot him? I won’t,” she states, robotic finger jabbing the bar between them. She’s waiting for Moxxi to tell her off, the growing panic with guilt she doesn’t understand. “Shoot him, I mean,” Maybe it was just the sad look on Not-Jack; the kicked puppy expression that’s making her feel sick.    
  
“Sugar, I’ve done all that already, it’s fine,” Moxxi grins, eyes still watching her critically as Gaige breaths out finally. “Are you going to be okay with him here?”    
  
“Umm, pfft,” she sits back, a little more relaxed, going for nonchalant and failing. “Yeeeaaaaaaap,” she pops the p, eyebrows raising with a grin that she hope’s is cocky. It’s not.    
  
“Uh-huh, _that’s_ reassuring.”   
  


* * *

  
But see, it’s not, even to her. Reassuring, that is. Gaige knows she messed up, which usually would be fine. She should have, logically, forgotten about it by now. So why is it she’s hanging out on Sanctuary III again, in Moxxi’s bar... Again?   
  
She knows from Zane and Amara that Not-Jack is temporarily aboard, that he spends most of his time within the safety net that is Moxxi’s and that he’s lost a hand. (How could she have failed to notice that? A whole hand, gone, and she hadn’t noticed?) She’s been given the lowdown on the Handsome Jackpot from the two, which consisted of Zane telling her just how many robots he’s smashes in. At least Amara seems to have followed the story a little better, but Gaige still enjoys Zane’s background colour.    
  
The guy sure loves his gadgets... And Gaige can respect that.    
  
So, here she sits. Waiting, uselessly, for the second time this week. She wants to ask Moxxi to introduce her properly, she even waves the woman over once or twice before losing her nerve. Moxxi merely grins, popping a new drink upon the bar and sauntering off. So, she’s well aware of Gaige’s problem but unwilling to help.    
  
_Fantastic._  
  
She contents herself with people watching, drinking and finally to cleaning the joints of her robot-arm listlessly. She’s pleasantly tipsy by the time she catches a flash of garish yellow exiting Moxxi’s back rooms, a very noticeable Hyperion yellow that Gaige could pick out anywhere. Instantly she’s alert, sitting up and trying to think of a way of a) coming across as friendly and b) not coming across as creepy. Because she’s not. At all.   
  
Not-Jack has his head slightly down still, his right hand – or lack thereof - tucked into his jacket pocket. His hair comes around to hide just that little bit more of his face as he stoops and yes, Gaige can say without any doubt that this is not Jack.   
  
When he glances up, he catches her staring with something that looks horribly – sickeningly – like a flinch. Gaige can hear her throat click as she swallows, scooting off her stool and standing as he tries to beat a hasty exit out the bar. And what, you may ask, does Gaige have to say for herself after a week of thought and pondering?   
  
"Uh,” Not-Jack slows, raising a brow at the floor to show that he’s heard her. “Hi!”   
  
Not-Jack mumbles a ‘hi’, walking even now toward the exit as the patrons of the bar pay him nothing more than a passing glance. Obviously, he’s been here long enough for none of this to seem batshit insane. And here Gaige is again, making a mess of things, again.    
  
And she’s following him.    
  
“Listen I, I’m sorry about the, the before, with the gun and making a scene,” she states awkwardly, half a step behind as Not-Jack slows just a bit, still walking with his chin tucked into his jacket. He’s not looking at her, but at least he’s not running away. In Gaige’s book, that’s something. “I didn’t know you were going to be here,”   
  
“Mox said she had told you all,” Not-Jack mutters, turning a corner and deftly avoiding a mech that glides aimlessly down the hall. Gaige isn’t so smooth, but she’s catching up at any rate. She can just make out his glance sideways, it’s quick but it’s there. “A week before,”   
  
The two climb the stairs, Not-Jack turning and leading the way toward the bright neon sign of Tannis’ clinic. Instead of entering, he seems to falter at the doorway as he realizes Gaige is still following. “I was a planning a wedding, might explain it,”   
  
“Oh er, congratulations,”   
  
“Not for me, dummo,” Gaige laughs automatically at his expression, from forced cheer to confusion in the blink of an eye. Can she call him dummo? Is that annoying? It’s got to be better than Not-Jack. What even is his name? It’s too weird to ask now, after she’s chased him so far. Not-Jack is staring at her, oh dip, she’s just staring at him too. Awkward. “It was er, you know Hammerlock?” Not-Jack nods, seemingly caught up enough to know about he and Jacobs if his expression is anything to go by. Again, more silence. Sweet. “You in here?”    
  
“Yeah, the uh,” he nods, lifts his right elbow without showing the lack of hand. “Stump. Moxxi convinced Tannis to have a quick peak, see if she can do anything,”   
  
That sounds stupid, if anything Tannis will shoo him away in a matter of minutes. What is she going to do for a stump? Tannis, God bless her, was more about science than medical attention. Either Moxxi is lying, or Not-Jack is. By the way he’s obviously not moving until she leaves, she’s going to go with Not-Jack.   
  
“Oh, well,” Gaige swings her arms by her side, uncomfortable and stuck without anything to say. “Good luck.” she gives his other arm a little slap, the leather making a satisfying crack as she turns to walk away. At least he didn’t flinch a second time, Gaige is going to take today as a win.    
  


* * *

  
To say she’s surprised by the Echo call is putting it lightly, the aged photo of Moxxi that she had taken years back lighting up the screen had been super-duper perplexing. It's dark in her dingy little room, a light slicing through from beneath her bathroom door offering the only disturbance until a moment ago. Now, she’s squinting into the bright echo as she hits accept.    
  
“Mox, you know what time it is here?”   
  
Moxxi actually seems to consider the question as her face comes into focus on Gaige’s scratched up little screen. She’s sat in a vibrant room, in her own living space with it’scolours that positively burn Gaige’s sleep deprived eyes. “No, sugar, what time is it there?”   
  
“I don’t know,” Gaige states slowly, staring at the little analog clock in the corner that is nothing but a blur of light. She gives up with a shrug and a heavy sigh. “What’s up?”    
  
“I have a little job for you, honey,” Moxxi pouts, eyes coy and automatically Gaige is intrigued. Why does the older woman look so smug? She keeps looking over the camera, away from Gaige and then slowly back down. “A favour for your favourite, what do you say?”   
  
“Oh I cannot wait, no more questions I’m there,” Someone laughs, low, just under Moxxi’s girlish giggle at her faux enthusiasm. It’s short, more a cough than a laugh but it’s there. Automatically, Gaige’s hackles are up. Someone else is in the room. “What’s the job?”   
  
“An escort job, you take a friend of mine to Promethea. Got a little meeting set up with a Mr. Strongfork,”   
  
“Oh, Atlas,” Gaige states after a pause, brain clicking into place as she can finally picture a face. “Moustache dude. Sure, sure. Seems easy enough, who am I taking?”   
  
“Timothy,”   
  
“Who?”   
  
“Tim, Timothy!” Moxxi grins even as she sighs, looking over the Echo once again in what is fast turning into an annoying habit. “You’ve spoken to him, the doppelganger,”   
  
“Oh, that’s his name! I’ve been calling him Not-Jack!” Gaige says carelessly, holding back a yawn until she’s finished speaking.    
  
Even through her own monster of a yawn, Gaige can still hear Moxxi’s “Well, she’s not _wrong,_ is she?”   
  
“Oh, uh,” It makes sense now, shit. Still groggy with sleep, Gaige raises her voice just slightly to shout out a “Hi Tim!” and ignore the grin Moxxi sends her way as she blushes bright enough to clash with her hair. “I can be there in like, half a day? When’s the appoint-”   
  
“That’s fine, sweetie, you come when you’re good and ready,” Did she just wink at her??   
  
“Moxxi it’s too early for you to be disgusting at me, I’ll be there soon, bye!” And she hangs up before Moxxi has so much as a chance to get anymore enjoyment out of her discomfort.  
  
Unfortunately for Gaige, her body may be tired but her mind is firing away. Why, oh why, would Moxxi request her when Sanctuary III is home for not one, but 4 Vault Hunters all up for jobs at a moments notice? Could it be Moxxi's way of messing with Timothy, or her, or both? Was she _requested_ by Timothy? Maybe her floundering apology made her seem less daunting, less homicidal? She doesn't come to any real conclusion before sleep reclaims her once again.  


* * *

  
  
So she took a little longer than half a day to both get ready (or at least, wake up) and get to Sanctuary III, so what? Point is, she’s here now and there’s a good chunk of the day where she and Timothy can drive in awkward silence through a city that has more lights than braincells.    
  
Good.    
  
Gaige walks into the bar with as much bravado as she can muster, which is thankfully quite a bit, but is automatically awkward as she realizes both Moxxi and Timothy are behind the bar... Standing rrreeaaaalll close together. Which is, y’know, great. Fine.    
  
“Moxxi, one escort, as ordered,” she announces herself grandly, breaking up the little... Whatever, whatever that thing is between the two. She watches them both edge away just a step, catching Timothy’s eye with a smarmy little smile and a smarmier little voice. “ _Timmy_ ,” he pulls a face, which Gaige waves away. “Eh, we’ll work on the name,”   
  
“I have a name, Timothy is fine,”   
  
“Needs more pep,”   
  
Moxxi laughs, pushing away from the bar with her hip and patting Timmy’s chin just once. “I told you, you’re going to have fun,” Timmy again, pulls yet another face. With a second little laugh, she pushes at his shoulder and ushers the two away with flapping hands. “Right, goodbye, get out of my bar.”    
  
And so, they get out the bar. No one speaks a word as they walk toward the fast travel, Timothy merely watching her destination and following. He digistructs before her as she waits, watching the blue particles with a passing interest until he visible shakes off the tingles that always follow fast travel. When he seems a little lost, a little uneasy, Gaige tries to get a peek at his face.    
  
“You gonna throw up?”   
  
“Pfft, no,” Timothy scoffs, crossing his arms and giving Gaige her first real look at his damaged arm. A clean cut, from the looks of it, just above the wrist. Gaige can already picture how a prosthetic would need to be formed, but he tucks the arm securely under his left as he catches her staring. “I’m not that green,”   
  
Purposely misunderstanding his meaning, Gaige gives him a little nudge with her elbow as she passes on her way to order up a car. “Iunno dude, looking pretty green to me,”   
  
The scoff and splutter behind has her grinning, enjoying the sudden break to the ever-present tension. “I’ve been doing this a lot longer than you, I can fast travel just fine,”   
  
“Alright gramps,”   
  
A world-weary sigh leaves him, seemingly from a well of disappointment. “Oh, this is going to be fun, isn’t it?” he says, no. Timothy _whines_ , voice still so very Jack, but with a nasally whine that makes Gaige grin. “I can already tell,”   
  
“Sure _Timmy_ , we’ll have best friends' bracelets before the week is out.”


End file.
